
||||||i:i!tip!ti 






■'IS 










Rnnk ■'W'7 4 - 



(Jljc JProdamation of Jrrctiom. 



A 



S E U M O N 

PREACHED IN THE 

NORTH CHURCH 

SALEM, 

JANUARY 4, 186 3. 



BY EDMUND B. WILLSON, 

Minister of the Church. 



^ubllsi)eTr bg 2a.cquest. 



SALEM: 

T. J. HUTCHINSON, PRINTER. 

1863. 



(J;|je Jproclrtmation of J'rccLiom. 



A S E R M O N fij 



rilEACIIED IN THE 



NOIITH CHURCH 

S.A. LE Is/L, 
JANUARY 4, 1863. 

BY EDMUND B. WILLSON, 
Minister of the Church. 



$ublts!)eti i)j) Hequest. 



SALEM: 
T. J. HUTCHINSON, PRINTER 

18G3. 



. tY7f 



NoTB. — The Preacher of the following Sernioi> sees one reason* 
and no more, for consenting to the printing of it : that it may pre- 
vent, or remove, any misapprehension of what the Sermon contained. 






S E E iM O N 



Acts xx. 35. — It is moke ulkssed to (uvk tiiax to receive. 

The apostle Paul tells us that those were words of 
Jesus. They are not found in the Evangelical histories, 
and were probably preserved by tradition. We know 
nothinj^ of the time, or circumstances of their utter- 
ancc. But they are characteristic of the Teacher. 
Plis life assumes their truth, and illustrates it every 
day, and his death sets it forth in the strongest light. 

To receive is a blessing, if the thing received be 
good, and it be received rightly, and for what it is. 
But to ^ive is tnore blessed. 

In receiving, the direction of the thought is apt to 
be inward, towards self, centring attention on this 
me, who is enriched. In giving, it is the other way. 
Thought and desire flow in the opposite direction, 
leading out from this me, — who is likely to be too 
much remembered. In the one case the lines of mo- 
tion all tend to one point, narrowing to a centre. 
In the other they go widening from centre to circum- 
ference. If there is a blessing in having the empty 
cup filled from the fountain, there is greater blessing 
in possessing the fountain which fills the cup, — and 
still flows for other cups afterwards. 



[4 ] 

He who receives is not necessarily blessed by it. 
He may not know how to make a blessing of what 
he receives. He may not be willing, if he does know 
how. If he stops what he receives at himself, and 
does not let it flow past him, that is, if his receiving 
do not end in giving, the treasure rusts and moulds 
in its napkin. The better part of the blessing begins, 
not with the gift coming to us, but with its going on 
to others from us. 

Our ascription of praise goes up to Him, " who is 
over all, God blessed forever." '• Blessed," and Giver 
of all. Receiving nothing. Receive he cannot, for 
with him is all i'ulness. A truth of heaven, this is 
true on the earth also, that " It is more blessed to 
give than to receive." 

There are two parties to that great transaction 
which has signalized the past week and the advent of 
a new year. '1 he one has given, the other received. 

Of the gift itself we pause to say but a word. 
Words fail to describe it. By the common consent 
of the most advanced of peoples and of men, slavery 
is a condition above all to be dreaded ; not to be en- 
dured, if escape from it can be achieved at any sacri- 
fice, or any danger; worse than death. Liberty is 
accounted by general consent the chief of earthly 
blessings. When men speak lightly of the evil of 
slavery, or the good of freedom, it is other men's 
slavery or freedom that they mean : never their own. 

In vain does the imagination try to take in, meas- 
ure, and feel adequately, the act of solemn grandeur 



[ 5 ] 

which has transpired. It so surpasses all ordinary 
events ; it is so peculiar in character ; it is so sweeping 
in its consequences, both as to time and numbers, 
that the human mind struggles; with its conceptions 
in vain, in the attempt to compass it. I take one 
soul, one life ; I try to make myself know, by think- 
ing, what slavery is to one. I think of daily waking 
to obey another man's will ; of beginning my toil 
and ending it when he says ; of pursuing it daily 
where he says, and as long as he says ; and with no 
hope of reward, other than what he may please to 
dole out in the food and clothing that shall keep me 
able to work for him ; of being thus daily robbed of 
my time, my skill, the fruits of my industry, the fruits 
of my thoughts. I think of this, not as a day's misery, 
but as a life-long condition ; not my condition only, 
but that to which my children are doomed, and their 
children ; on forever ; a doom without hope, I think 
of this mastership not restricted to the wise and just, 
but open to the worst : the passionate, the intemper- 
ate, the profligate, the cruel, the avaricious. 

I look at my children, and try to think ^^^hat life 
would be, if there were those who could come any 
hour between me and them and say: " These are mine, 
not yours. You are their father, but I am their owner. 
Though you love them, and I do not pretend any 
other than a pecuniary interest in them, I shall take 
them from you ; you will see them no more ; you 
must live ^vithout them ; you cannot know their fate ; 
they are to be dead to you henceforth.'* 

I try to think of these things in order to bring them 



[ ^ ] 

home to myself as reality. And when I do bring- 
them home, my blood flows to my heart, and my soul 
freezes with horror. 

Bnt you say T must not suppose that slavery is felt 
by all as the degradation and wrong that it would be 
to me ; nor that liberty is prized by all as the great 
blessing which I esteem it to be. If this were true 
it would confess worse of slavery than I have charged : 
that it unmakes the manhood of man ; turns his 
thought, and soul, and free will out of him, and leaves 
him a crushed brute. But if it does this sometimes, 
it does it not every time; for many as we know have 
so felt slavery, that they have sought to escape it at 
the risk of scourging, branding, iron collars and iron 
fetters, bloodhounds, bullets, separation from kind- 
red, death. 

To be brief, — Ownership ! The ownership of a 
man by a man ! That is Slavery. What can one 
say after that ? That you may not miss the point, 
you are to imagine yourself the owned, and to have 
no choice of owners. 

Then I try to think what deliverance from such a 
condition would be : the gift of freedom to the en- 
slaved. Is there any eartlily gift to be named com- 
parable to it ^ 

Then I pass from imagining the emancipation of 
one, and try to bring before me that of a family ; 
of a hundred ; of thousands ; of millions ! Of course 
1 cannot do it. The mind cannot take it in. I do 
not exult at the spectacle before us, because I am 
awed by it. 



[ T ] 

Do not cavil at my spcakini;- of the emancipation 
of millions as an accomplished fact. I do not forget 
that a word is hut a word, and that it does not make 
slaves free to say they shall be free. 

Nor do I forget that, when thirteen American col- 
onies declared themselves independent of their mother 
government eighty-six years ago, that was only a de- 
claration, — words. It did not make them independ- 
ant to say that they were so. And yet it did. Tiiat 
Avas the end begmi. The end was there in idea, in 
purpose, in inspiring hope. And after seven years' 
sacrifice, war, and suffering it was realized. 

I do not know when these slaves of ten states de- 
clared free last Thursday, will he free ; nor how many 
will die without the sight. But though every one of 
them should die in slavery, the proclamation of free- 
dom would be the same great solemn edict of justice, 
that shall be referred to through all history to the 
honor of this American people and its Government, 
and to the praise of God. I believe there is power 
in that word: tangible power, present efficiency. 
But if not there is moral power, which is superior to 
King-craft and State-craft, to generalship and gun- 
nery ; and that word shall outshine all else that has 
been done in this war. In fact it is that which this 
proclamation stands for, which gives the war all the 
honor, or the excuse, it has. If this war is not a 
war for justice, a war for the preservation of liberty 
and the right of self-government, there is no excuse 
for it. And that is what this proclamation means ; 
only it extends the liberty and the right of self-gov- 
ernment to a class who never before had either. 



[8] 

But if you are of those who have looked with alarm 
or objection to this step, you will possibly inquire, 
(as some have,) if this is after all or if it so much as 
professes to be, an act of justice; if it is not justified 
purel} on the ground of military necessity. 

It is to be justified on both grounds. This act, like 
most human actions, is the product not of one but of 
manv motives. Where many join in one act the mo- 
tives to it are difi'erently mixed in different minds. 
Some do not feel at all a motive which others feel 
strongly ; while still others are c ontroUed by a ming- 
ling of various considerations, which though distinct 



weigh together. 



It has always been just that the slaves should have 
their liberty. But no power had been lodged with 
the government by its constitution to do them this 
justice, till Rebellion, by making war upon the Con- 
stitution and the nation in Slavery's behalf, gave the 
government this right ; and, what was more, made it 
appear an imperative necessity to use it, as the only 
sure and effective way of saving itself, and saving the 
country, and perpetuating the national life and integ- 
rity. Then military necessity and justice came ta 
have ends in common, attainable by common means. 
And from both the fiat came : — Let Slavery cease ! 
Even military necessity would have had no right to 
do what is manifestly and grossly unjust. In spite of 
the proverb, that necessity know^s no law, necessity does 
know many laws. If I could only preserve my life 
by sacrificing all the people of this city, even my ne- 
cessity would not justify so great a crime. Necessity 



[9] 

itself declares that these many must be saved though 
I perish. If the liberation of the slaves had beeu 
a great act of ^•;^justice, falling on millions, and involv- 
ing the innocent in ruin, it might not have been de- 
fensible to have used such means, even to save the 
country. Military necessity itself acknowledges that 
there are injuries which must not be inflicted even 
upon enemies, whatever advantages can be secured 
thereby. 

And perhaps it will be asked if this is not just 
such a case. Some take that view of it, supposing 
that the Government has invited insurrection, rapine, 
murder. This however seems to me a wholly gratui- 
tous assumption. The danger of insurrection will 
come, if at all, through the action of the slave-hold- 
ers. And with them, I sincerely believe, is the power 
to prevent it. If the slave-holders make no opposi- 
tion to the President's proclamation there will be no 
insurrection. They know whether insurrection is to 
be feared. And they know how the electricity can 
be drawn harmlessly from that cloud, if there is any 
in it. Frequently they say there is no such danger : 
that the proclamation is but a dead letter, wholly my- 
gatory. More often, however, they express fear. 
There is a way of avoiding all danger. Let them 
grant to their slaves the freedom which is theirs, and 
offer to hire them at fair wages, and all danger of in- 
surrection will vanish. Do you say that we cannot 
expect them to do that ^ Then I say, they must not 
expect us to sympathize with their fears of insurrection. 
2 



[ 10 ] 

On the other hand ; while military necessity alone 
could not have sanctioned the proclamation of eman- 
cipation, the simple consideration of justice alone 
could not govern in this question, if there had been 
no military necessity to demand emancipation; for, 
there are many things which justice requires to be 
done, but which not every man may justly do. This 
should be considered by those who blame the Presi- 
dent for not declaring everi/ slave free, at once, 
throughout the land. The slaves of Missouri are as 
unjustly held in bondage, as were those of Missis- 
sippi. Justice as much requires their emancipation. 
The President saw that plainly no doubt, but while 
he saw that, and admitted it, he could not see that he 
had any right to interfere where no imperative neces- 
sity demanded it. 

If a man has assaulted another, it is clear that the 
assailant deserves to be punished ; but though it is 
just that he should be fined or imprisoned, that does 
not give me the right to make him a prisoner at my 
own will, or to decide that he shall pay, and how 
much. 

The Italians may have rights, but the Emperor of 
E.ussia has no right to interfere to enforce ihem. 

The President in like manner cannot find that he 
has the right to do, what is nevertheless right to be 
done, emancipate the slaves of Maryland, Missouri,. 
Kentucky and Tennessee. Though where he felt that 



[11 ] 

he had not the right to emancipate by proclamation, he 
has nobly endeavored to bring about freedom by other 
means ; means which, I trust, will prove successful 
at no distant day. 

But what gives to this act of emancipation its great 
and permanent interest, and will make it memorable 
while the nation endures, or liberty has a home on 
the earth, is that it is an act of justice to an oppressed 
people. 

Viewed simply as a military act designed to cripple 
an enemy, it is believed that it will have great effect. 
But so viewed it proves us neither great in wisdom, 
nor strong in right. All generals do what they can 
to cripple their enemies. There is nothing extraor- 
dinary in that. In that is nothing to accredit us with 
any higher quality than sagacity. But we have done 
two things in one in this emancipation. "We have 
aimed a stroke of war policy at rebellion, and we 
have at the same time given back to millions of hu- 
man beings rights which were fe/rM-rights and inali- 
•enable, but of which they have been unjustly and 
cruelly robbed. It is this latter act of justice which 
is to live in history, and to make the first day of 
January, in the year of our Lord eighteen hund- 
red and sixty-three, memorable. 

Then let us turn from military necessity to justice. 
As Christians who lay no claim to knowledge of con- 
stitutional law, and who leave questions of military 



[12] 

necessity to those whose responsibility it is to decide 
them, we go back to the simple fact that here are 
millions of human beings who were slaves, now de- 
clared to be free. Here we discern an act of tardy 
but glorious justice. We rejoice with these freed 
people. It was just they should be free. Whatever 
may be said of the part which any one has had in 
effecting this result, the result is a righteous result. 
It is one in which Christians cannot but feel a most 
lively and rejoicing sympathy. It is no longer a war 
policy we contemplate, but one of the fruits that holy 
spirit, which Christ came to breathe into human souls. 
It makes the gospel to be a gospel: good news. 
He repeats again in our ears the words of the proph- 
ecy, — and now with what weight of meaning! " The 
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath an- 
nointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He 
hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted ; to preach 
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to 
the blind ; to set at liberty them that are bruised ; 
to preach the acceptable of the Lord." 

But if those who have received the inestimable 
boon of freedom are blessed, yet more they who 
have given it to them. The nation has risen from the 
dust. Now may she lift up her head ; for, though 
not yet is her warfare accomplished, she is bringing 
forth fruits meet for repentance. She has clothed 
herself invulnerably in the armor of righteousness. 
It is worth all that it has cost us, and all that it will 
cost, to have gained this strong position. 



[ 1-5 ] 

Nevertheless, this is not all that we have to do : — to 
sympathize and rejoice. Reconsider the text. It is 
more blessed to give than to receive. We have yet 
much to do to perfect this gift. The roots of slavery 
have struck deeper than we think. This fertile wrong 
has been the parent of one of the most cruel preju- 
dices that ever perverted nnd abused the hearts of 
men. This prejudice is worse in the Northern 
states than in the Southern. It makes complexion a 
badge of degradation. It denies the dark skinned a 
home, or admittance to some states. It is as bad 
as slavery, every whit, in spirit. It is the same 
thing indeed as slavery. And those who feel it most 
and most express it, are the very material from which 
those hard-faced and flinty-hearted Northern drivers 
and masters of Southern slaves have been made, who 
are justly reputed the most remorseless of taskmas- 
ters and brutal of men. What more heathenish do 
we send missionaries to preach against in all the 
pagan coasts ? Personal likes and dislikes may be 
treated with comparative patience. But the coward- 
ly tyranny over weakness, that will make of a natural, 
God-appointed peculiarity of structure, or color, a 
ground ot social proscription and outlawry, moves 
every chivalrous, not to say (/hristian sentiment in us 
to indignant protest. Men of the most revolting filth- 
iness, of unclean lives, of foul and profane speech, 
whose breath sickens the pure, are often the very 
ones who with insult and abuse have followed these 
hunted, unprotected sheep through street, and car, 



[ 14 ] 

and public hall ; and they feel privileged to do it 
because better men encourage it; and even from 
churches, where the parable of the judgment is not 
expunged from the Bible, have these outcast peo- 
ple been banished. O, I have sometimes felt that 
some of us, who talk of slave-master's arrogance, may 
be no better than sanctimonious hypocrites ; and we 
are no better, when we treat the black race, or any 
other of God's poor, and weak, and unfortunate ones 
with contempt and scorn, and still profess a regard for 
the teachings of the Son of God. 

Under every dusky skin is a soul as much the care 
of God, as is his who issues proclamations from the 
Presidential seat, or his who folds a judge's robes 
about him, or his who sits at senate-boards, or his 
who ministers in lawn at the altar of religion. Why, 
is there a plain word in all the gospel, and is this 
equality of all souls before God not plainly written 
there ? " My brother he is :" says Christ, pointing to 
the humblest, the captive, the hungry, the naked. 
" What vou have done of kindness, or shown of love 
to him, I have received. What you have omitted of 
pitiful service or kindly regard to him in his misfor- 
tune, is an omission which falls upon me, and which 
I feel as my own." 

It will take generations to abolish the effects of 
slavery, when slavery itself is done away. In one 
respect we have recognized the slave's manhood ; it 



[ 15 ] 

remains to recognize it in other respects, in all re- 
pects. 

Freely we have received, let ns freely fjive : it is 
more blessed. In raising the fallen we shall be our- 
selves lifted up. We have not yet begun to give. 
It has cost little, comparatively, to speak a word. 
Now, we must overcome prejudice. Now we must 
show patience and forbearance, if those who have 
long been oppressed are slow to forget the improvi- 
dence, the carelessness, the unthrift which slavery 
fosters. We must be considerate, if, intoxicated with 
new-found liberty, they aie for a while averse to labor, 
and desirous to test to the full the new luxury of 
idleness. They are a gentle people, by the consent of 
all the witnesses. Treated kindly, they will be kind 
and docile. Those who have been sometime free are 
already manifesting an improvability, such as was not 
to have been expected. They may not continue, 
without interruption, to do so well. They wnll often 
disappoint those who labor for them, and watch over 
their condition. What then I All we can do for 
them will be but light reparation for the wrongs which 
have been done to their people by our people ; and were 
it tenfold more, be it remembered that it is after all 
more blessed to give than to receive. 

Let us accept the proclamation of freedom to the 
slave in the religious spirit in which it is concluded. 
While we would invoke " the considerate judgment 



[ 16 ] 

of mankind," and especially the grateful, thoughtful 
and merciful reflection of the Christian world, we 
would invoke also " the gracious favor of Almighty 
God !" 

" uoLY Father I just and true 

Are all thy works and words and ways, 

And unto tliec alone are due, 
Thanksgiving and eternal praise ! 

As children of Thy gracious care, 

We veil the eye — we bend the knee, 

With broken words of praise and prayer, 

Father and God, we come to Thee. 

***** 

Speed on Thy work, Lord God of Hosts ! 

And when the bondman's chain is riven. 
And swells from all our guilty coasts. 

The anthem of the free to Heaven, 
Oh, not to those whom Thou hast led. 

As with Thy cloud and fire before, 
But unto Thee, in fear and dread, 
Be praise and glory ever more." 



